Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will provide direct payroll subsidies to ensure that no businesses will need to terminate the contracts of (a) directly and (b) indirectly employed staff; and if he will make a statement.

The Government is clear that we must support people in work to do the right thing during this Covid-19 outbreak.

It is essential that we support businesses who are experiencing increased costs and disrupted cashflow as a result of Coronavirus. The Government has introduced a host of new measures to help businesses in this period, with £330 billion worth of Government-backed and guaranteed loans to support UK businesses. Businesses can ring the Business Support Helpine for further advice on the support available.

Alongside this, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will help to pay people’s wages. Employers will be able to contact HMRC for a grant to cover 80% of wages, up to a monthly cap of £2,500, for their workforce who remain on payroll but are temporarily not working due to the Coronavirus outbreak.